


Deep Currents

by treasonlikebeauty



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Scientists, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-11
Updated: 2016-10-11
Packaged: 2018-08-21 21:09:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8260589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/treasonlikebeauty/pseuds/treasonlikebeauty
Summary: When Tsukishima Kei leaves his comfortable job as a university professor to go out into the field and collect his own data for a ground-breaking research project, he thinks he’s ready for whatever Antarctica will throw at him. Enter one Hinata Shouyou. A bit bewildered by his boisterous and unlikely bunkmate, Kei does his best to keep himself to himself. I said ‘does his best,’ I didn’t say ‘does.’Or, Hinata has a big dick, Tsukki is Bad at Feelings™, and you get some itty-bitty cameos from around the Haikyuu!! universe, including my all-time fav, the Karasuno lesbians.





	

**Author's Note:**

> At some point I saw this fantastic tumblr post that had art (and I’m pretty sure some text as well) of the Karasuno first years in their third year, having totally levelled up, so to speak. Ever since, I hc Yachi as getting super brash, and Tsukki as mellowing out as he re-learns to trust the things his important people tell him. Hinata mainly just a little less frenetic/combative. (Yamaguchi might have been sort of punk, or I’m just thinking of [yankasmiles](http://yankasmiles.tumblr.com/tagged/punkguchi)’ awesome art. He’s not in this au, anyway. Sorry, Yams.) If anyone knows the post I’m talking about, point me at it and I’ll add it to this note!
> 
> Disclaimer: I know nothing about the sciences mentioned in this fic, just grabbed a couple phrases from some online reading. My apologies to anyone who does know these fields and has to suffer through my confused ramblings. (I am super fascinated by the colossal squid, though. In a different life, I became a marine biologist and studied cephalopods. But in this life, I can’t dive. Ear issue. Happened when I was 9. Anyway.) Originally written for day 2 of Hinata Rare Pair Week July 2k16!

Tsukishima Kei did not consider himself a passionate man. Indeed, it was his dispassionate nature that lent itself so well to his chosen profession, that of a geodetic engineer.

In the years since earning his PhD, his efforts had been focused on what work he could do with the wealth of data others had collected. His keen analytical mind and concise, to-the-point writing had gotten more than a few papers published, some in extremely prestigious journals. This had earned him a professorship, and a high likelihood (if not absolute guarantee) of tenure in the years to come. This career trajectory pleased him; it was exactly what he'd worked for.

Or rather, it had pleased him until recently. A few months ago, he began to feel an itch. His office felt stuffy, his lectures forced. Even his skin felt too tight. He had questions that the data gathered by his peers couldn't answer. After a few weeks of this, he idly began looking into positions at research outposts. The end of the term was coming up, and he was sure the department head would approve a sabbatical after all the exemplary work Kei had done at the university, and all the grants he’d brought in. His investigation led him to the fascinating work being done at Showa Station, on East Ongul Island in Queen Maud Land, Antarctica. By a fantastic stroke of luck, one of the members of the geodesy unit was due to return to Japan in just over two months—certainly enough time for Kei to get his affairs in order. If, that is, the station would have him. He quickly composed an inquiry email to the HR department at the Center for Antarctic Programs. While intellectually he knew he would be an excellent choice, he couldn’t help a bout of nerves as he hovered his cursor over the send button. With a huff of annoyance at himself he sent it off. He then attempted to work on the grading he needed to have done by the end of the week, but after several minutes of reading the same paragraph over and over, he gave up and packed his things.

It was a quick walk to the off-campus apartment he shared with Yachi. They both joined their high school’s calligraphy club as first years, and while the girl’s constantly flustered state had annoyed him at first, she snuck her way under his defenses with her upfront nature and unpracticed charm. He even fancied himself in love with her for a month or so during their second year, but she had gently turned him down, telling him of her long-distance (and kept quiet) relationship with Kiyoko-san. When he came out to her three weeks later, she grinned and punched his arm. “This officially makes me your, ‘if I had to pick a chick!’” she crowed with delight, and Kei couldn’t help snorting a laugh. She never would have had the courage to make that joke when they met (nor had the thought at all) and he secretly loved seeing her come out of her shell, even if it was in poor taste.

After graduation, he assumed she’d follow Kiyoko, but it turned out that Kiyoko’s university wasn’t a good fit for what Yachi wanted to study. Kei didn’t find out until a week before classes started that he and Yachi had ended up choosing the same school, both of them because they wanted to get into the university’s grad school once they finished their undergraduate degrees. At that point, sharing an apartment was just a natural extension of their friendship. After they finished their doctorates, they moved to a new city, but stuck together. Yachi started a post-doc at the university where Kei accepted a professorship. They found a big apartment with a nice master suite, because Kiyoko was about to finish med school, and she and Yachi were nearly delirious with joy that their days of long-distance were nearly over. Despite this, neither Yachi nor Kiyoko mentioned the possibility of getting rid of Kei.

Kei announced his presence as he entered the apartment with their habitual quip, “Honeys, I’m home!” Yachi’s laugh emanated from the kitchen. He let his bag  to thump onto a corner of the living room couch and headed her way.

This week, the kitchen housed a network of beakers, Erlenmeyer flasks, graduated cylinders, a Liebig condenser _and_ an Allihn condenser, a Bunsen burner, a few racks of stoppered test tubes, and an assortment of pipettes. Yachi was intently watching the beaker over the Bunsen burner but looked up briefly to flash him a smile. “Just one honey today. Kiyoko left this morning for that conference, remember?”

“Oh that’s right.” Kei walked over and pressed a quick kiss to the top of her head. “How are you?”

Yachi immediately extinguished the Bunsen burner and turned to face him. “What’s wrong?”

“N-nothing!” Kei stammered.

Yachi raised an eyebrow. “You’re never affectionate without prompting unless something very good or very bad has happened, and you’re too tense for it to be something good. So spill.”

Kei sighed in defeat and took a seat on one of the stools behind the breakfast bar. “Well, you’re half right. But it’s something that could go either way—good or bad, I mean. I’ve sent out feelers about a position at Showa Station.”

Yachi’s brow crinkled. “Showa Station? What’s that?”

“It’s the year-round Japanese research base in Antarctica.”

Yachi’s eyes widened for a moment, but then she appeared to take it in stride. “Wow. That’d be… that’d be one heck of  change.”

Kei shifted his weight. “I’ve just been feeling a bit… stifled. Lately. At the university, I mean, not at home.”

Yachi chuckled. “Yeah, we share a bedroom wall, babe. Stifled you are not.” She shot a smirk his direction, but he just grinned unabashedly and she laughed. “Anyway. Tell me more about Showa.”

“The geodesy work being done there is fascinating. They’ve—”

“Hold up, hold up,” Yachi said quickly. “ _Not_ what I meant. No shop talk at home, remember?”

Kei looked around the kitchen and raised an eyebrow.

“Shop _talk_!” she defended herself. “This may be shop _work_ , but I’m not _talking_ about it, am I?”

“Whatever you say.”

Yachi grinned. “Now _that’s_ what I like to hear. So what’s the facility like?”

“From what I was reading, it’s quite big. Over sixty separate buildings of various sizes serving a _huge_ number of different purposes. Observatory, radiosonde station, living quarters, power plant, data processing facility, most relevantly to me an earth sciences building… I can’t recall any others off the top of my head, but there are many, many more.”

“Whoa! I was definitely picturing something cramped and tiny.”

“Well, it is a permanent installation.” Kei shrugged. “I don’t know how it compares to the other stations, though. There are far more of them than most people realize. Admittedly some only operate during the summer, but still.”

“Interesting. Do you know how soon you’ll hear back about the position?”

Kei shook his head. “No idea. I imagine it will take a while; I’m sure there are a lot of applicants. But I’m hoping—” he was interrupted by his phone buzzing in his pocket. He checked it, and made a small sound of surprise. “I… I stand corrected.” He kept reading, his eyebrows climbing further and further toward his hairline. “It seems HR passed my name on to the head of the department, and she’s somehow heard of me? And apparently she’s, well, a fan. Of my work, I mean.” The pace of his breathing was picking up. “The head of the department is Michimiya Yui. Oh my god. Michimiya Yui knows who I am. How… when… what…”

Yachi laid a hand on his chest. “Easy there, Kei-chan. Don’t hyperventilate.”

Kei nodded and took a few deep breaths. “Right. Thank you.” He finished reading the email and looked back up at Yachi, still bewildered. “They want me to do a satellite interview. Tomorrow.”

“Oh my gosh!” Yachi exclaimed. “That’s so great! Oh Kei, you’re a shoo-in. Congrat—”

“Don’t jinx it!” Kei interrupted loudly, and Yachi laughed.

“My bad. Will you take a ‘good luck?’”

Kei nodded stiffly. “That would be acceptable.”

She slugged him in the arm. “Then good luck. But I really have to get back to this now,” she said, waving a hand at her chemistry equipment. “And I’m _sure_ you still have grading to do.”

“Sad but true,” Kei said with a sigh. He leaned down and kissed Yachi’s cheek. “Thank you, Hitoka.”

“What are platonic life partners for?” she asked with a grin. “Now get to work!”

Kei heaved a long-suffering sigh, but did as he was told.

~

The next day, about ten minutes before the time of the interview, Kei was already seated at his desk, videochat open, and webcam on. He kept fussing with the webcam, minutely adjusting it up and down, back and forth. His room, always tidy, was now meticulously clean—or at least, the portion of it visible to the webcam was. He stared at his image on the screen, wondering if maybe he should have gone with a traditional interview suit, even though the man from HR said there was no need. He then started unbuttoning and re-buttoning the top two buttons on his shirt. One button undone? Two? None? Should he be wearing a tie? After being told not to wear his suit would that look like he was trying too hard? Maybe—

There was a knock on his door, and he jumped. “Yes?” he called after a moment.

Yachi poked her head around the door. “Can I come in?”

Kei glanced at the time. “Yes. Only for a minute.”

She walked over to him and spun him in his desk chair to face her. After a moment’s inspection, she licked her thumb and used it to smooth some flyaway hair. “There,” she said. “Now you’re perfect.”

Kei just barely cracked a smile. “Thanks. Now get out.”

Yachi laughed. “As you wish.” She turned back toward him for a second when she reached the door. “You’re gonna rock this,” she assured him, then left, shutting the door behind her.

Kei took a few deep breaths, fighting down waves of nausea. He’d never done anything this impulsive, but was strangely excited by the prospect. That said, he was terrified he’d ruin his chances before he even got started. A few more deep breaths. He was wondering if he should maybe polish his glasses again when the call came in. In his haste to answer it, he nearly hit the decline button, and he had barely pushed the adrenaline jolt down when the feed connected. A man with ash blond hair and a kind face was on the other end of the call. “Tsukishima-sensei?” he asked.

“Yes,” Kei answered as calmly as he could. “Thank you for your call.”

“No need to thank me yet,” the man said with a smile. “I’m Sugawara Koushi, on-site HR director for Showa Station. The main CAP office thought it would be best that I do the interview, as I’m more familiar with how we work here in the field. Now, I have a few preliminary questions for you, then I’ll add Michimiya-sensei to our call. At that point you and she can discuss the more technical aspects of the position, then I’ll wrap things up. Does that sound all right to you?”

“Yes, of course,” Kei replied, praying the strange, out-of-body sensation he was feeling wasn’t apparent in his face or voice. “Please ask away.”

When Yachi asked him about the interview later, Kei couldn’t actually tell her all that much. He remembered putting a lot of effort into not acting star-struck when Michimiya entered the call, but had no idea how successful he’d been. And he knew that at the end of the call, Sugawara told him that they had a few other candidates to interview, but he would hear back within a week. It wasn’t until Yachi had reentered his room that he even remembered how to move.

As the days slipped by with no word from the CAP, Kei’s heart slowly sank. He stayed on top of his work, and was nothing less than professional with his colleagues and students, but internally he was starting to feel numb. Six days in, he was in the middle of an email volley with one of his students, and so clicked the mail icon without a second thought when his phone buzzed. The first thing he saw was the CAP header at the top of the email, and immediately squeezed his eyes shut. He sat like that for at least a minute, feeling more and more childish as the seconds ticked on. Finally, he opened his eyes and started reading. He only got as far as, ‘We are pleased to offer you…’ before leaping to his feet and pumping a fist in the air.  He then felt extremely silly, and very grateful no one had been around to see it. He waited a few moments for his racing heart to slow, and then finished reading the email, grinning so hard his cheeks hurt.

Well then. He had a lot of arrangements to make.

The two months disappeared without a trace. While objectively he knew it had been long and grueling, with truly exceptional quantities of paperwork, _subjectively_ it seemed as though only a day or two had passed between being offered the position and leaving for Antarctica.

Yachi and Kiyoko drove him to the airport. Or rather, Kiyoko drove, and Yachi spent the whole trip questioning Kei, making sure he had packed properly. While such persistence and repetition would usually bother him—even from Yachi—he was too distracted to get annoyed.

When they reached the airport Kiyoko got Kei’s bags out of the car, while Yachi hugged him fiercely. “You’ll email us, right?”

“Of course I will,” he said, returning the hug. “And it’s only six months. So don’t get too comfortable with your new ‘project room.’ I’ll be wanting it back.”

“Eh, you can sleep under the lathe.” She squeezed him tight, then pulled back to look up at him, eyes wet. “Take care of yourself, all right?”

“Same goes for you,” he said softly, and leaned down to kiss her cheek. “You, too, Kiyoko,” he squeezed her shoulder. “And I’ll see you guys soon…”

“…geologically speaking,” all three finished together, and Yachi sighed. “You never get sick of that one, do you?”

“Never.”

“Good luck, Kei,” Kiyoko said softly.

Yachi wiped her eyes, then thumped him soundly on the back. “Yeah, yeah, good luck and get going! You have got a _very_ important flight to catch.”

“So I do.” He gathered his bags and winked at them. “I’ll be back before you know it,” he said, and strode into the airport.

~

Holyfuckinggoddamnsonofabitch it was cold. The short walk from the helipad to the nearest building left him shivering violently, and he was extremely grateful he had a few minutes to walk through the heated corridors leading to the administration building. When he arrived, he removed his _enormous_ coat and headed up to the HR suite on the second floor. The only thing immediately visible upon entry was a large reception desk, which Kei approached. “Tsukishima Kei,” he told the receptionist.

“Of course!” the young man chirped. He rose to his feet to fetch something from the shelves behind his desk, and Tsukishima did a double take. The man was even taller than him. Oblivious to Kei’s regard, he handed over a sheaf of paperwork. “Suga is expecting you, and he’ll help you fill all of this out. First door on your left. Please head right in,” he said, pointing to the wide hallway that opened to the right of the desk.

Kei frowned. The receptionist called his boss Suga? He chose to put the thought aside. “Thank you,” he said with a small bow.

As he knocked on Sugawara’s door, he heard the main doors open again and the receptionist greet someone else, voice turning breathy on the name, ‘Yaku-san.’ Any further thoughts on the matter were derailed by Sugawara’s voice calling, “Come in!”

Upon entering the office, Kei approached Sugawara’s desk and bowed, much deeper this time. “I am honored to meet you, Sugawara-san.”

“And I, you, Tsukishima-sensei,” Sugawara said, rising and returning the bow. “But please, call me Suga. Everyone does.”

Kei frowned. “Really?” He felt horrifically rude the moment the word escaped, and blood rushed to his cheeks.

Sugawara smiled up at him, clearly not put off in the slightest. “Really. Now please, take a seat. We’ve got a _lot_ of paperwork to get through.”

By the time everything was entered, initialed, and signed, Kei’s eyelids were drooping.

“That’s it!” Sugawara said. “Someone will show you to your quarters momentarily. You look dead on your feet.”

“Oh, no, I’m…” Kei couldn’t stave off a yawn, and then smiled sheepishly. “A little tired, yeah.”

“I completely understand. It’s a long trip.” He hit the intercom button on his desk. “Lev, could you find someone to take Tsukishima-sensei to his room?”

“I’m on it, sir! Hey Yaku-san—” the intercom cut out.

Sugawara chuckled. “He’s a handful, but he works hard.” The door opened to reveal a short man with close-cropped light brown hair. “Ah, thank you, Morisuke. You didn’t have to come yourself. Tsukishima-sensei, this is Yaku-san, he’s head of security here at the station.”

“No problem, Suga,” Yaku said with a smile, and held the door for Kei. “Right this way, sensei.”

“Thank you. And thank you, Sugawa—Suga.”

“Of course. Now go get some rest!”

As they walked, Yaku chatted to him quietly about life at the station. Kei was grateful for the tips, but told Yaku that he might have to repeat the information the next day. Yaku just chuckled and said it would be his pleasure. As they entered the living quarters, Yaku asked him, “You know the rooms are doubles, right?”

“Yes, so I read,” Kei said. “Do you know who I’m rooming with?”

“Shou-chan? Yeah, of course.” He laughed. “ _Everybody_ knows him.”

Kei frowned. “I don’t recall anyone of that name on the earth sciences roster.”

“Oh, no, you don’t necessarily room with your department. Too much turnover. His full name is Hinata Shouyou. PhD in oceanography.”

“Oceanography?” Kei felt a wave of nerves overtaking his exhaustion. “I… I don’t know what I have to talk about with an oceanographer.”

Yaku laughed again. “Don’t worry. You won’t need to do much talking.” Kei was about to ask him what he meant, but Yaku stopped walking and rapped on a door. “This is you! The staff should have brought your things by now. “Sleep well, and we’ll see you in six to ten hours!”

Kei yawned again. “Thank you.”

“Any time.” Yaku clapped Kei’s shoulder, then went back the way they came.

Kei pushed the door open to find the room empty. He sighed in relief. He was in no fit state to make a good first impression on _anyone_ , let alone the man he’d be living with for six months. The room was small, but not as sterile as he had expected. The bunks were on the right. The lower one was neatly made, the upper a twisted mess of blankets. There were two tall dressers against the far wall, and a rolling rack where two coats had been haphazardly hung. A table and two chairs were pressed against the wall to his left, and when he turned around, he saw a small sink between the table and the door. He hummed quietly to himself. It seemed quite serviceable. His bags were neatly stacked just inside the door to his right. He briefly entertained the idea of unpacking, but in the end just shed his outerwear, stripped off his slacks, and collapsed into the lower bunk. “Ten hours,” he mumbled to himself as he folded his glasses and set them on the floor. “Yeah right. Like anyone could sleep that long.”

He slept for twelve.

When he woke, he felt groggy and confused. He reached for his nightstand, and it wasn’t until his hand hit air that he remembered he wasn’t at home. He rolled over and pawed at the floor in search of his glasses, then shrieked when after a second or two, someone grabbed his wrist and pressed them into his hand.

“Whoa!” said an unfamiliar voice. “Sorry, sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.”

Kei sat up and shoved his glasses onto his nose. A small young man with wide brown eyes and a crow’s nest of bright orange hair was crouched beside the bed, beaming at him. “Hinata Shouyou,” he introduced himself. “Oceanography. And you’re either Tsukishima Kei of geodesy, or someone very, very lost.”

“Yes. I mean no. I mean yes, I’m Tsukishima Kei.” He blinked a few times. “I apologize for my outburst. It’s an honor to meet you, Hinata-sensei.”

“You too! But drop the ‘-sensei.’ Makes me feel old.”

Kei pursed his lips. “Are all of you like this?”

Hinata tipped his head to one side. “Like what?”

“So… improper,” Kei said, judgment heavy in his tone.

Hinata just laughed, a bright, pealing sound. “We prefer to say, ‘informal.’”

“But why?” Kei asked.

“We are a long, long, _long_ way from polite society, living in one of the most inhospitable places on earth.” Hinata grinned. “We gotta stick together.”

“I see.” He really didn’t.

“Give it a week. Maybe two. You’ll get used to it quick.”

Kei was quite sure he would do no such thing, but chose to change the subject. This was his roommate. He needed to be civil. “Do you know what time it is?” He frowned and looked at his watch. “Or at least what time zone we’re in?”

“We use UTC+03:00. So six hours back, for you.”

“Thank you.” Kei reset his watch, then did the arithmetic and leapt from the bunk. “I’ve been asleep for half a day! I was supposed to report to Michimiya-sensei! I—”

Hinata rose to his feet and placed a palm squarely on Kei’s chest. “Okay breathe. You haven’t missed anything, Yui knows you were sleeping off the flight, she told me to tell you to swing by whenever you’re ready. Okay?”

Kei looked down at Hinata’s hand on his chest.

Hinata immediately drew the hand back. “Sorry.”

“No,” Kei blurted. “It just reminded me of someone.”

“Someone good, I hope?”

One corner of Kei’s mouth turned up. “Yeah. Very good. My Hitoka.”

For a brief second, he could have sworn Hinata looked _disappointed_ , but the expression vanished as quickly as it had come. “Right!” Hinata said, perhaps a bit over-loud. “A shower, a change of clothes, a decent meal—well, as decent as we can get around here—and you’ll feel like a new man.”

Kei nodded. “That does sound like a good idea.”

“In that case, grab your shower stuff and follow me.”

Hinata explained that he and Kei had the good fortune to be right next to the water heaters, with the bathroom on the other side. “That extra bit of warmth makes it _so_ much easier to sleep,” Hinata said. “And we don’t have to carry our clean and dirty clothes with us every time we want to take a shower. We can just nip out and back.”

Kei expected Hinata to leave him alone once he got into the shower, but instead the man just took a seat on the bench in front of the lockers and continued talking, louder now to be heard over the sound of the water.

“I think for the most part you and I will run on slightly different schedules. My shift is early enough that if your schedule is the same as Kaburagi’s—the woman you replaced—I’ll get up a good four to five hours before you. We can meet up for my lunch/your breakfast though!” It apparently didn’t occur to Hinata that Kei might want to spend his mornings alone. “Today’s a bit of a one-off. Yukie told me I could skip because you were moving in.” He chuckled. “Though I almost could have finished my work in the time I spent waiting for you to wake up!”

Kei’s embarrassment led him to fume slightly in the shower.

“I didn’t mind, though.” Hinata assured him. “Gave me a chance to catch up on my reading!”

Ah, perhaps a hint of common ground. Kei poked his head out of the shower stall to ask, “What are you reading?”

“Oh, mostly just old volleyball mags.”

So much for that.

“My sister sends them to me. I played when I was a kid. My best friend went pro. For a while I thought I might, too. Then I tore my ACL.” Hinata was quiet for a few moments, and despite the cause, Kei was grateful for the slight respite from the conversational torrent. He didn’t get to enjoy it long, as Hinata continued, “But if that hadn’t happened, I’d never have found oceanography, and honestly, now I can’t imagine doing anything else with my life.”

Kei gave his hair one last rinse and shut off the water. He quickly buffed a towel over his face and torso, then wrapped it around his waist and rejoined Hinata. “I’m sorry you got hurt,” he told him, attempting courtesy.

“Eh. I’m happy where I am now. It’s impossible to say if I still would be on a different path.” He shrugged. “That’s how I look at it, anyway. Now come on, let’s get you dressed and fed!”

Once Kei was freshly attired, his annoyance at the way Hinata was steamrolling him began to mount in earnest. But he was _awfully_ hungry. Once they got as far as the cafeteria, he could tell Hinata he’d rather eat alone. Satisfied with this plan, he started to tune out what Hinata was saying.

This proved to be a mistake.

“I _told_ you not to use that coffee machine,” Hinata said when Kei joined him at a round table, carrying a tray of food and wearing what felt like at least three cups of coffee. “Maybe I should have had you eat first and shower second.”

Kei’s teeth began to grind. “I am perfectly capable of making my own decisions about these things,” he said shortly.

Hinata didn’t seem to register his tone. “Of course! But it doesn’t hurt to have a helping hand your first day here.”

Kei opened his mouth to respond, then thought better of it and instead focused on his meal. While not wholly unappetizing, Kei did feel a bit dismayed that this would be the quality of his diet for the next six months.

Six months. He would be sharing a room with Hinata Shouyou for the next six months. Just as his thoughts were turning mean, he thought of Yachi. He couldn’t stand her when they met. And Hinata really did remind him of her. A bit. Not a lot. And it certainly wasn’t as though he and Hinata could _ever_ become as close and he and Yachi. Even so, the thought inspired a bit of patience.

He finished his meal quickly, and told Hinata—as politely as possible—that he could dispense with his babysitting duties for the remainder of the day. Hinata didn’t seem to take offense, despite Kei’s somewhat clipped tone. He wandered off to god-knows-where, while Kei went back to their room to change his shirt _again_. He washed the one he’d been wearing as well as he could in the sink, then looked up how to reach the earth sciences building and headed out.

He only had to backtrack once on his way there, a feat that left him feeling quite pleased with himself. The station was a veritable warren. When he reached the geodesy lab, he felt something in his chest relax. This was his environment, and these were his people.

He had only been standing there a moment or two when a small woman with short dark hair approached him. “Tsukishima-sensei,” she greeted him. “A true pleasure to meet you. I’m—”

“Michimiya Yui!” he squeaked. Then turned scarlet, cleared his throat, and bowed. “Michimiya-sensei, it’s an honor. You work has been truly inspirational to me.”

She bowed back. “Your work is quite inspirational itself. Now, let me introduce you to the team and show you the lab.”

Around four hours later, Kei returned to his room with an armful of reading material. Papers by the other members of the team, manuals for the lab equipment, and reams of recent data relevant to the project he would be undertaking: studying temporal variations in Earth's gravity field. He settled into his bunk and read until his eyes hurt. After rubbing them for the umpteenth time, he glanced at his watch. He’d only been awake six hours, after sleeping _twelve_ , but somehow still felt tired. He took a long look at his bags. Okay. He’d unpack, then let himself go back to sleep.

He pulled open the top drawer of the dresser on the right. All he registered at first is that it was full, and he started to close it, then his brain caught up with his eyes. Nestled among the socks and underwear was an obscenely large box of condoms, and not one, not two, but _three_ bottles of lube, two of which were partially used. He slammed the drawer shut. Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. Against his better judgement, he slid the drawer back open. He didn’t dare touch anything, but leaned down to check the labels. Two water-based, one silicon. He looked at the box of condoms and snorted. Magnums. “Yeah _right_ ,” he muttered. Some guys were so delusional. Curiosity satisfied, he shut the drawer once more and went about the business of unpacking his own belongings. It didn’t take him long to sort his things: clothes in the top three drawers, books and papers in the fourth, electronics in the fifth, and, well, everything else in the sixth. He put his suitcase on its back next to the dresser, stuffed his crumpled duffel back between them, and unfolded his mesh hamper and set it atop the suitcase. He changed into a pair flannel pajama pants and a loose t-shirt and brushed his teeth, then started hunting for a power outlet. He was pleased to discover that each bunk had a pair inside, against the far wall. He plugged in his phone (which had spent the last several hours doing a nice impression of a brick) and used it to set an alarm, then switched off the light and crawled back into bed.

Despite how tired he felt, sleep didn’t come quickly. He was immensely irritated to find that his thoughts kept drifting to Hinata. He was pointedly keeping said thoughts far, far away from Hinata’s sock drawer. It felt like hours had passed, but had probably been no more than twenty minutes, when he blissfully dropped off.

~

It didn’t take long for Kei to slip into a comfortable routine. As Hinata had predicted, their schedules were different enough that even when they _were_ in their room at the same time, at least one of them was asleep. Because of this, Hinata insisted they share at least one meal a day. Despite his initial opposition, Kei was surprised (and a little horrified) to realize he was starting to enjoy their time together.

It was during one of these meals, about a month into his stay, that Kei looked up at Hinata and said, “I just realized. I’ve never actually asked you what you’re researching down here.”

Hinata’s whole being lit up. “Oh my gosh. Well. It’s _amazing_ the kind of work we can do here! Do you realize this is the only place on the entire planet where the current can circle the entire globe nearly unimpeded? And there’s so little variation in density as the depth increases; currents are far, far deeper than usual, extending _way_ past the typical few hundred meters at the top. _That_ means…” Hinata carried on, his words becoming increasingly technical but no less animated. Kei just nodded along, making the occasional sound to show he was listening.

But instead of listening, he studied Hinata, spotting details he hadn’t really noticed before. The pinkness of his mouth. The long sweep of his eyelashes. The beauty mark a hairsbreadth above the collar of his shirt. The tiny scars on his hands.

Eventually he realized Hinata had stopped speaking, and looked up to see the other man staring at him, head tilted to one side. “You okay?” Hinata asked.

“Yes. Sorry. I’m fine.” Kei slid his gaze away from Hinata and off to one side. “Just, ah, got lost in my thoughts.”

Hinata smiled. “No worries! Happens to me all the time.” He glanced at his watch. “Oh dang, I didn’t realize how much time had passed. I really have to get going,” he said apologetically. “Next time, you can tell me all about _your_ research, I promise.”

“Very well,” Kei said, then gestured to Hinata’s tray. “I can take care of your dishes. You go on ahead.”

“Oh thanks! See you later!” Hinata waved and hurried off.

Kei stayed where he was, silent and still, internally berating himself. Eventually he shook his head, as if to clear it. He mechanically finished his meal and cleaned up his and Hinata’s dishes, then wandered—only  barely intentionally—to his lab.

He sat down at his station and closed his eyes. _Research_ , he thought. _I am here for research. Nothing else._ He caught his reflection in his dark monitor, and recognized the look on his own face all too well. He deliberately leaned down to rest his forehead again the table and whispered, “Fuck.”

~

By some cruel twist of fate, the breaking point came hard on the heels of his unfortunate realization.

Kei normally slept soundly through Hinata’s morning routine. He was a heavy sleeper, and Hinata did his best to be quiet. But this particular morning, Kei was pulled from sleep by a cramp in his leg. Hinata was clearly up, as the lights were on, but wasn’t in the room. Had to be in the shower, then. Kei shut his eyes against the light as he stretched out his calf. He was just drifting back to sleep when the door opened and Hinata shuffled in with a towel around his waist.

Kei could have rolled over, or kept his eyes shut. Hinata could have been facing the other way, or standing far enough away that Kei couldn’t see a thing without his glasses.

But no.

Hinata stood directly in front of the bunks, standing on tiptoes to reach something in his, presumably his phone. And between one second and the next, Hinata’s towel gave up its tenuous grip on his hips and dropped to the floor.

It took everything Kei had to stifle the whine fighting its way up his throat. When Hinata made a small sound of triumph and rocked back down onto his heels, Kei shut his eyes and focused on taking slow, deep breaths. He carried on like this while Hinata puttered around the room, blissfully unaware that anything out of the ordinary had happened. Drawers opened and shut. Clothes rustled. The sink ran. And finally, _finally_ , the door open and shut.

Kei’s eyes snapped open, and he took stock of his situation. The interminable wait and constant fear of being discovered had done _nothing_ to stop his blood rushing to his groin. He counted backwards from ten. He counted backwards from twenty. He has just started counting backwards from fifty when his hand, _completely_ unbidden, crept into his pajama pants. For a solid fifteen seconds, he tried to convince himself that he simply couldn’t get off to the thought of his sweet, innocent, _tiny_ roommate’s fucking _enormous_ cock. Then his brain supplied him with the image of Hinata’s sock drawer and all thoughts of sweetness or innocence went right out the window.

When his hand and the inside of his pajamas were sticky and cooling, Kei finally had enough spare blood for his cheeks to start burning. “Fuck,” he said with feeling. Then he forced himself out of bed, washed his hands, changed into a pair of boxers and did his best to clean up his pajama pants. He folded them carefully so that the wet patch was on top, and gingerly placed them in his hamper. They could dry there, somewhere Hinata would never look, just in case he hadn’t managed to wash them well enough. Not that Hinata would ever suspect what had happened if he _did_ see, but Kei wasn’t taking chances.

He got back into bed, but knew he wouldn’t be falling asleep any time soon. Disjointed flashes of memory and fantasy were weaving themselves together, producing new and _entirely unwelcome_ (he told himself) emotions.

He knew he had feelings for Hinata. For… for Shouyou. He could have handled that.

Now he knew he wanted to bang that like a screen door in a hurricane. He could have handled that.

Both? Together? He had _no idea_ how to handle that.

So he decided to follow in the grand tradition of the men who came before him: Suppress _everything_.

~

This worked for about a month.

~

Kei was standing at the junction between two corridors, staring down at his phone. He could have sworn he knew the layout of the whole station by now, and yet he seemed to be lost. He heard approaching footsteps, and moved to one side of the hall. Much to his surprise, whoever it was stopped walking when they reached him. He glanced up to see a man who looked familiar—everyone on the station did at this point—but he couldn’t quite place him. “Pardon,” the man said, “but I don’t think we’ve actually met yet. Oikawa Tooru, marine biology.”

“Tsukishima Kei, geodesy.”

“Oh yes, I know. Now you see, I couldn’t help but notice your shirt…”

Kei looked down to see what he had on. It was a faded t-shirt with a cartoon illustration of a cuttlefish and the text, ‘Cuttle me.’

“…and I of course _had_ to stop and talk to you. Are you familiar with _Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni_?” Oikawa didn’t wait for a response. “Tsk, of course you are, everyone is. Largest known invertebrate, after all.” Kei tried to interrupt and explain that it was just a shirt, and he had no idea what the man was talking about, but couldn’t get a word in edgewise. “As I’m sure you know, one of the most classic examples of abyssal gigantism. Oh, and of course their eternal battle with _Physeter microcephalus_ is downright legendary. I’ve often wondered…” Oikawa trailed off as his gaze slid over Kei’s shoulder. “ _There_ you are, Iwa-chan!” He clapped Kei on the shoulder. “I have to go, but don’t worry, we can continue this conversation later.”

“I can hardly wait,” Kei said in a monotone, his expression completely flat.

As soon as Oikawa wasn’t looking, his companion—presumably another marine biologist—rolled his eyes and mouthed, “Sorry,” at Kei.

Kei tiled his head in thanks and then quickly walked away down the _other_ corridor, not caring if it got him more lost, just in case Oikawa changed his mind.

The corridor ended up leading him to a part of the station he’d never visited before. He considered turning back the way he’d come, but he didn’t have anywhere he needed to be for the next few hours, so he decided to explore instead.

He approached the first door he came to and pushed his way inside. He froze. _Yep_ , he thought. _The way my life has been going? This seems about right._

Hinata and a man with dark brown hair with a bleached spike above his forehead—Nishinoya Yuu, meteorology, his brain supplied—were attached at the mouth and wrapped around each other, their pants open and hips rolling rhythmically together. Kei was about to back out the way he’d come in when Hinata caught sight of him. The blood drained from his face and he pulled away from Nishinoya. Kei just shook his head, and rushed out of the room.

“Tsukishima! Wait!” he heard Hinata cry before the door swung shut behind him.

Kei didn’t wait. He ran.

He ran for a long time. Purely by chance, he ended up in the observatory. He tucked himself into a corner where no one would bother him, and sank to the floor, back sliding down against the wall. One of the astronomers shot him a strange look, but didn’t say anything.

Kei sat there for a long time. He wanted to talk to Yachi. He couldn’t tell her this. How stupid he was.

Eventually, he calmed down enough to start thinking things through as rationally as he could.

He had already known Hinata had a partner (or partners) at the station. The sock drawer was enough to tell him that. So if he’d already known, why was he so bothered now?

A little voice whispered, _Because you lov—_

Kei shut that voice down fast. It clearly couldn’t be any such thing. All they did was share a meal once a day. Exchanged anecdotes. Joked around. And yeah, maybe sometimes their conversations got heavy. And maybe they’d shared a few confidences. Fears. Hopes. Dreams. Speaking softly huddled together on the same side of a little rectangular table in the corner of the cafeteria. After all, what were a few confessions between friends? That didn’t mean lo—that didn’t mean anything. Like he said, they were friends. Good friends.

God, would they even be that anymore, after today? Kei felt sick. He was garnering more and more curious glances from the astronomers. He got up and slipped out of the observatory. He checked his watch. It was almost time for him to report to the lab. He considered taking a sick day, but ultimately realized that the work would do him much more good than lying in bed and stewing.

When his shift ended, Kei didn’t want to return to his room. What if Hinata was there? What if he wasn’t?

He sighed. No point delaying the inevitable.

Usually, by the time Kei got in, the room was dark and Hinata was asleep.

Sure enough, Hinata was asleep. But the lights were on, and rather than sleeping in his bunk, Hinata was sitting in the chair facing the door, awkwardly collapsed over the table. Kei considered switching off the light and leaving him there, but only for a second. He shut the door and took a seat in the other chair. He drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly, then placed a hand on Hinata’s shoulder and shook him gently. “Kei-chan?” Hinata mumbled sleepily.

Kei’s heart nearly stopped. _It doesn’t mean anything, it doesn’t mean anything_.

Hinata sat up and rubbed his eyes, blinking slowly into wakefulness. Kei could see the exact moment Hinata remembered what had happened. Even so, the first thing he said was, “You came back.”

“I live here.”

Hinata just looked at him for a moment, and Kei almost started to think Hinata might smile, but instead he turned his gaze downward. “Yeah. You do.”

Kei didn’t want to have to carry this conversation. He _really_ didn’t want to. But if that was what Hinata needed, well then. “Look, Hinata—”

“God, Tsukishima, I am so sorry. You shouldn’t have had to see that. Please don’t tell anyone. I know I said we’re a family here, but every family has bigots, and I really, really, really hope you’re not one of them, because I… because you’re _so_ important to me, and even though you weren’t always here, now I can’t imagine being here without you. Please don’t be mad.” Hinata’s voice had been getting thicker and thicker, and when he looked back up at Kei, there were tear tracks down his cheeks. “I am so, _so_ , sorry,” he whispered.

Kei took a deep breath. “I’m… not mad. Or well, not exactly. I was, um…” he trailed off and rubbed his temples.

“You were what?” Hinata choked out. “Shocked? Horrified? Disgusted?”

“Shocked, yes, but more than that…” he looked away. “More than that, I was… jealous.”

“What?” Hinata asked, sounding _incredibly_ confused. “What do you mean, jealous?”

“What does anybody mean when they say jealous?! I mean I wanted it to be me!” He took a deep breath. “I looked at him, and I wanted it to be me.”

“But, but you have Hitoka, I thought…”

“Wait _what_?” Kei asked, now as confused as Hinata. “What does Hitoka have to do with any of this?”

“Uh, she’s your girlfriend?” Kei stared at him blankly, and Hinata continued, “Are you guys… poly? But you never pursued anyone on the station, I just figured…”

Kei’s brain kicked back into gear and he burst out laughing. “Oh my god, no, Hinata, Hitoka’s my roommate! And a lesbian! A lesbian in the same monogamous relationship she’s been in since high school!”

Hinata was gaping at him. “But, what? You called her, ‘my Hitoka!’”

“I didn’t mean it like that! I meant in, you know, a platonic life-partner sort of way!”

“Well you should have said that!”

“If you wanted to know, you should have asked!”

At the exact same moment, they realized how loud they’d gotten, and quickly looked away from each other again.

“So…” Hinata said after a moment or two of silence. “Jealous, huh?”

When Kei looked up, Hinata was smiling tentatively. He smiled back. “Yep.”

“Like, _how_ jealous?”

Kei snorted. “Don’t push your luck.”

Hinata chuckled. “I think I might try pushing it just a _teeny_ bit.” He rose from his chair, pushed it back, and pulled the table away from Kei. With a downright _rakish_ grin, he slowly, slowly moved to straddle Kei’s thighs, clearly ready to pull back at the first sign Kei didn’t want him to. Kei reached up and pulled him down faster. Hinata leaned in close, but didn’t quite brush their lips together.

Kei paused. “Before we…” he frowned, then tried again. “This is going to be fun.”

“Yes, it is,” Hinata agreed.

“Is it… is it _just_ going to be fun? Because that’s fine, I can work with that.” _Lying, lying, lying._

“Oh,” Hinata said. “Sounds good. I am _great_ at fun.”

Kei’s heart felt like it was tearing in two, but he just smirked. “I believe it.”

It wasn’t really clear who initiated this kiss, but it was definitely Hinata who got their shirts off, and Kei who moved them to his bunk. “Go over,” Hinata said between kisses, “to my—”

“—sock drawer, I know,” Kei said without thinking, only realizing his mistake when Hinata stopped kissing him.

“Kei-chan,” Hinata gasped. “You’ve been _snooping_.”

“Completely unintentionally, I assure you.” He said as went to fetch supplies. “When I moved in, I didn’t know which dresser was empty.”

“And you kept quiet, all this time,” Hinata marveled. “Now _that_ is self-control.”

“No,” Kei said as he threw the condoms and lube onto the bed, stripped out of his pants, and straddled Hinata’s hips. “Self-control is having gotten a look at this,” he reached between Hinata’s legs and squeezed, “and not throwing you down against the nearest available surface and riding you into oblivion.”

Hinata groaned, long and loud. “Jesus fuck. You can’t just _say_ things like that. My poor heart can’t take it.”

_My heart can’t take this either._ “Aw, I think you’ll be just fine,” he purred. He pulled the drawstring of Hinata’s pajama pants and shimmied them down his hips before pulling them off entirely. At the sight of the massive bulge in Hinata’s boxer briefs, his mouth actually started watering and he groaned. “You have _no_ idea how many times I’ve imagined this,” he said, grinding down.

With a strength belied by his size, Hinata flipped them and pressed Kei’s wrists into the mattress. “Hmm,” he sighed as he nosed along Kei’s jawline. “I might have _some_ idea.” He bit down hard just below Kei’s ear, and Kei hissed. “A pretty good idea, in fact.”

“Well don’t let me stop you,” Kei whispered.

Hinata rolled off of Kei and slipped his fingers under the elastic of Kei’s boxers, pulling them down and off in a long, fluid movement. He then bent down and licked a hot stripe up the underside of Kei’s cock. He fiercely fought down the impulse to bury his hands in Hinata’s hair, instead just clenching his fists in the sheets. Hinata started dropping kisses over his stomach and thighs, tiny brushes of his lips and the occasional swipe of tongue. “Hinata,” he said, sounding strangled. “I need.”

“Under the circumstances, don’t you think you should call me Shouyou?”

_No, no, no, no, no…_ “Of course.” He wrapped a hand around the back of Hinata’s neck and pulled him up for a kiss. “Fuck me, Shouyou.”

Hinata buried his face in Kei’s neck started trembling. Kei stroked his back, patiently waiting. Then he realized that his neck was starting to feel… damp.

He propped himself up on an elbow and used the other hand to gently guide Hinata’s chin until he could see his face.

Hinata was crying.

Kei felt as though he’d been doused by a bucket of ice water. _He hates me, he_ hates _me. He can do this with every other guy at the station, but when it comes to me, he can’t even go through with…_ His thoughts faltered and then stopped as he realized Hinata was saying something.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” Hinata hiccupped through his tears. “I can’t. I thought I could do this but I can’t.” Kei’s heart sank. “I just… I thought it could be like anybody else, but it can’t be, it _can’t_ , because it’s _you_.”

“No,” Kei said hollowly. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have… I’m the one who’s sorry. If I hadn’t said I was jealous, you wouldn’t have tried to… to humor me.”

“What?” Hinata sounded even more confused than he had last time. “Humor you? I’m not…” he trailed off and his eyes went wide. “Oh my god.”

“What?”

“Oh my god,” Hinata repeated.

“What?!”

Hinata beamed at him. “We are _so_ stupid.” He put a hand on Kei’s cheek and looked him right in the eye. “Tsukishima Kei, I love you.”

“WHAT?!”

Hinata started laughing. At first Kei was annoyed. Then he cracked a smile. Then he started chuckling. And then they were both laughing, and trying kiss each other at the same time.

When the laughter slowed to a stop and they caught their breath, Kei leaned in and pressed a kiss to each of Hinata’s eyelids. “Hinata Shouyou,” he said, heart so full he thought it might burst. “I love you.”

~

Kei’s six months were rapidly drawing to a close, and Yachi was waiting for an email from him about exactly when he’d be back. She would never tell him, but she was _not_ looking forward to rearranging all the furniture again. She and Kiyoko had moved a _lot_ more stuff into Kei’s room than they’d originally planned.

Her phone beeped. Sure enough, it was an email from Kei. She opened it, and then frowned, confused. It was only one line.

‘You can keep the project room.’

**Author's Note:**

> When I saw that [crowswillfly](http://crowswillfly.tumblr.com) is admining [a second Hinata Rare Pair Week](http://hinata-rarepairweek.tumblr.com/post/151456630217), it reminded me I should probably ask my beta if she's done with my fics from the first one! She was not (procrastinators repreSENT) but has since returned this one and promised the others are on their way for me to fine-tune. I've got a very time-intensive and time-sensitive cosplay project going on right now, but it'll be either finished or abandoned by the end of next week, and then it's just writeWriteWRITE through November. (I may kill two birds with one stone and write rare pair fics for NaNo. We'll see.) Moral of the story: barring unusual circumstance, some stuff I wrote will be on the internet in the relatively near future.
> 
> I'm going to bed now.


End file.
